The Performing Arts Studio is sponsoring The Imaginative Storm: Writing and Creativity Weekend Workshop led by Nathan Brown, Oklahoma’s new Poet Laureate, and James Navé, New York-based poet, performer and creativity facilitator. The workshop will meet Saturday and Sunday, February 23-24, 2013. On Sunday at 7:00 PM there will be a free public concert featuring music, poetry and performance. All events will take place at The Santa Fe Depot in Norman, 200 S. Jones Avenue.

Oklahoma audiences are familiar with Brown primarily as a singer-songwriter who has performed in many venues around the state and is a regular at The Depot. He is equally talented as a poet who has published eight books of poetry as well as a CD of his original music. Most of his time is spent teaching – whether middle school classes at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned an interdisciplinary PhD in English and Journalism, as well as in high schools, colleges and community centers around the region. In addition to writing, he leads workshops focused on developing creativity and writing practices.

James Navé holds an MFA in Poetry and has more than 20 years of experience teaching workshops on writing and creativity. He is the owner of The Imaginative Storm Writing and Creativity Salon and was one of the pioneers of the Spoken Word movement. He has taught creativity and writing workshops in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Partnering with Julia Cameron, he developed The Artist’s Way Creativity Camp in Taos, NM and continues to work with students to expand their creativity and find powerful ways of expression. In addition, as a certified Appreciative Inquirer Facilitator, he works with businesses training employees to develop and apply creativity to leadership.

Brown and Navé will alternate teaching sessions each day and they will have an on-going conversation that brings it all together. Brown will teach Inviting the Writer In and Listing Side to Side, Top to Bottom. Navé’s sessions will be From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form and Start and Finish The Artist’s Way on Your Own. 

The workshops will meet from 10:00-3:30 on Saturday and 1:00-5:00 on Sunday. Daily enrollments are $45 and a one-time registration for both days is $75. For more information on the workshops, go to http://www.pasnorman.org/programs/workshops. From there, you will link to the registration page for the workshops. You will also find links to the websites of Brown and Navé where you can see samples of their work. For questions, call the Performing Arts Studio at 405-307-9320.